By MARY PILON

April 8, 2014

The bill, passed by the Senate and the House, will immediately repeal the tax for N.H.L. players, but delays repeal for N.B.A. athletes until June 1, 2016. Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, is expected to sign the bill.

The tax had become a sparring point for professional athletes, lawmakers and accountants. Like many states, Tennessee charges opposing athletes a tax when they visit for games. But it is the only state that charges the same flat rate: $2,500 a game, with a maximum charge of $7,500 a year. So LeBron James, who makes about $19 million a year, is charged the same amount as a rookie with a salary of $500,000.

As a result, athletes at the lower end of professional pay scales were in some cases actually losing money over all when they played in Tennessee.

“This tax not only was inequitably applied to players in the N.H.L. and N.B.A. while exempting other professional sports, but it also was an abuse of the state’s taxing authority,” Jack Johnson, the Republican senator who sponsored the bill, said.

Executives with the Memphis Grizzles had defended the arrangement, saying that money generated by the tax helped their arena, the FedEx Forum, draw top concert performers and stay competitive with rival arenas. The Nashville Predators had supported a jock tax, but changed course and backed a repeal.

At least one N.B.A. rookie client of Mark Goldstick, the owner of Goldstick Tax Service in Chicago, received no money for one paycheck as a result of the law, he said.

“Players are very aware of it,” said Goldstick, who is preparing 73 athlete tax returns for 2013. “They say, ‘What is this $2,500 coming out of my check?’ For a guy making the minimum, that’s real money.”